Inside Unmanned Systems

APR-MAY 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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AIR SOFTWARE
58 April/May 2018 unmanned systems
inside
C
ompanies such a s A mazon and
Alphabet hope to use drones to f ly
packages to customers. However,
programming drones to f ly through cluttered
spaces like cities is extraordinarily challeng-
ing, even putting aside regulatory concerns.
Now, to f ly drones through forests and down
streets, researchers are exploring novel tech-
niques such as embracing unpredictability or
employing artificial intelligence software—
work that could help make drones safer to f ly
around people.
ZIPPING THROUGH FORESTS
Delivery services would naturally want drones
to f ly as fast as possible to their destinations.
However, avoiding obstacles while traveling at
high speeds is a computationally complex task,
especially for small drones that are limited in
how much computing capacity they can carry
onboard for real-time analysis.
Now a team from MIT's Computer Science
and Artif icial Intelligence Laboratory has
developed a system called NanoMap that en-
ables drones to consistently f ly 20 miles per
hour through dense environments like forests
and warehouses. The researchers said the
secret behind their success was to embrace
uncertainty.
Many existing strategies aimed at helping
drones navigate cluttered environments rely
on intricate maps to tell the unmanned air-
craft where precisely it is compared to poten-
tial obstacles so it can safely move from one
point to another. However, if the estimated
locations of objects is off by just a slight mar-
Fast, Collision
Free Urban Flights
Photos courtesy of MIT CSAIL, photo by Jonathan How, MIT.
To fl y drones through forests and down cluttered city streets,
researchers are exploring novel techniques such as embracing
unpredictability or employing artifi cial intelligence software.
by Charles Q. Choi
A drone maneuvers
while being trailed by
researchers.